 Welcome to NTN Nightly, I am Channel Novel, this edition, Stop Stories. Saint Lucia recovers 81% of the key US source market. Students of the Saint Lucia Sports Academy attain coaching certification and food sources are examined as we commemorate World Food Safety Day. Saint Lucia's position as a preferred tourism destination continues to ensure the recovery of the island from the economic impact of COVID-19. The Saint Lucia tourism authority is reporting that arrivals are surpassing projections as the industry prepares for this summer season. The SLTS says Saint Lucia has seen an 81% recovery in tourism arrivals from one of its major source markets. More in this report. Tourism continues to rebound, auguring well for more jobs, business linkages and revenue with more eyes set on Saint Lucia and additional options from international gateways. Visitor arrival data for May 2021 indicates that Saint Lucia had recovered 81% of the US market. Since the reintroduction of tourism on June 4, 2020, to date Saint Lucia has welcomed over 80,141 visitors. Surpassing 35% visitor arrival projections, the past month noted peaks in arrivals as the destination had yet another busy weekend that welcomed more than 3,000 visitors. Tourism officials were part of the delegation that welcomed the reintroduction of American Airlines service from New York's JFK International Airport and the data-driven service from Dallas-Fort Worth DFW. A combined total of 209 arriving passengers, including those fully vaccinated, were met with a full complement of protocols in place. We haven't had an American Airlines flight out of JFK since 2009 and that is quite critical as well. And that is going to help us as well, giving customers the extra option of having an American Airlines flight from JFK. That really is going to create a lot of competition on the route for JetBlue. Whenever there is competition, the price is likely to go down. It makes us more competitive. So I think that it's very, very good all around and we're very excited. And I think currently we have to continue to build from here. With DFW being an award-winning international airport and with an average of 4.7 million passengers, the St. Usher Tourism Authority seized the opportunity to captivate a large audience during high-dwell times, displaying some of St. Usher's most compelling digital and static images as well as branding across the interior and exterior of all four terminals and the Jet Bridges at Terminals A and C. A very big day for St. Usher's tourism. And it's coming at a time when we really need that kind of boost with all of the fallout and disruptions that are taking place with COVID-19. It really does show a lot of confidence in St. Usher and it helps rebuilding our tourism industry that much better. Locally handcrafted plaques depict in the Destinations logo the Danish markets by St. Usher and artist Christy Gustave were presented to American Airlines in commemoration of its services to the destination. Crew members, special guests and lucky seat winners were also gifted on arrival, compliment the St. Usher Tourism Authority, Chairman's Reserve Room by St. Usher and artist Daniel Jabatis and Kanko Organic. Out of Dallas, one lucky passenger was gifted a three-night stay for two, compliment Sugar Beach, a viceroy resort. The weekly non-stop Saturday service will depart St. Usher for Dallas every Saturday at 2.30 p.m. Eastern Caribbean time. The New York service departs at 3 p.m. From the Government Information Service, Lisa Joseph reporting. The St. Usher Sports Academy is continuing to provide development avenues for its students. Every institution in collaboration with the St. Usher Olympic Committee, Inc. afforded Form 5 students the opportunity to develop coaching skills through a Caribbean Coaching Certification Program, as Hermadi Mark with the details. Fourteen Form 5 students of the St. Usher Sports Academy are now certified after successfully completing the Caribbean Coaching Certification Program. The students received their certificates at a short ceremony held at the school on Monday, June 7th, 2021. Assistant Program Director at the St. Usher Sports Academy, Andy Bale explained the certification provides the students with the knowledge of fundamental coaching theory that can be utilized to become valuable citizens in the sporting arena. Specifically, this program is the Caribbean Coaching Certification Program. This has really been spearheaded by the St. Usher Olympic Committee in late 2019. We brought in Dave Farmer from Barbados. He worked with a group of our trainers here in St. Usher through the Olympic Committee, and over the next year, so 113 coaches in St. Usher have gone through this foundational theory course in coaching. This he highlighted supports the national sports ecosystem in St. Usher, as the Caribbean Coaching Certification Program is also available to infant and primary school physical education teachers. When it comes to the impact of this program, we've also focused at the Olympic Committee, is also focused on getting, especially primary school and secondary school PE teachers involved. I think we've done almost half of the primary school PE teachers on the island have gone through this program as well. When we look at the kids coming through, not just this group, but subsequent groups, we really are feeding a pipeline into the future of young coaches who at least have a theory background that they can take into their local clubs, they can take if they become PE teachers later on. That's another skill set that our current group of PE teachers on the island is building up as well. So it really is preparing them with a first step in the coaching realm. Andy Bailey informed the students of the importance of utilizing the certification for their personal and professional development. The program is supported by the St. Usher Olympic Committee, Inc., and is recognized by Olympic Committees around the region. From the Government Information Service, I'm Hermione Mark reporting. The governments of Taiwan and St. Luusia continue to strengthen ties, collaborating on various projects aimed at not only improving the standard of living of all St. Luusians, but assisting St. Luusia in achieving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. The Taiwanese government in its latest show of support made a donation to the constituency development program CDP. Taiwan Ambassador to St. Luusia His Excellency Peter Shen During the check-handing-over ceremony, reiterated Taiwan's continued support. CDP projects are not only fair-bombs for economic recovery and growth, but also one of the key majors to accelerate actions toward adaptation to climate change impacts and an important strategy to identify the needs and incorporate local communities, business, civil society and people in the joint efforts. At this inflection point, Taiwan will continue to stand by St. Luusia to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals and build resilience to climate change. The hand-over ceremony today is a solid membrane of such commitment. Minister for Economic Development, Housing, Urban Renewal, Transport and Civil Aviation, Guy Joseph, highlighted the value of the friendship between the two countries. The constituency projects over the years have improved the lives of St. Luusia on many fronts and now even bigger projects in key sectors such as tourism and sports are to be embarked upon. And that is why we believe that our relationship with you is a very, very special one because you understand the needs of the people of St. Luusia in a way that it makes it so easy to facilitate not just the projects but the implementation of the projects where the people who directly benefit from the projects also benefit from the contracts to execute the projects. So they benefit on two counts. They get to do the work and they get the improvement to their area. We also want to congratulate your government for the new initiatives on the CDP where we are now focused on bigger projects also. So now that we are meeting the needs of all of the smaller projects the sporting facilities that we have seen the major improvement that will help St. Luusia in developing world-class athletes and sportsmen and women. We want to appreciate that and assure our friends from the Republic of China and Taiwan that it is making a significant impact and we certainly look forward to the continuation of the friendship between our two countries as we continue to champion the importance of small island developing states. Of course, Taiwan is a big small island in the sense that it is really paving the way to follow in its footsteps but certainly the impact that the CDP has made in fact as a component of the bilateral cooperation agreement which provides a much bigger level of assistance we want to really signal our appreciation. This is NTN 9th Lee Please stay with us. If our leaders adopt the warning labels that are shaped like a stop sign on the front of the food packages wishful thinking my dear No mommy, it's not Karikom leaders are currently voting on whether or not they want to introduce them these labels will make it easier for mom and you and even me to tell when packaged foods are high amounts of sugar fats and salts. He's right, eating too much of sugars fats and salts is linked to obesity and non communicable diseases like heart disease, diabetes and cancers leading causes of death in the Caribbean. You know, mom is not the only one who needs to watch what she eats as children are at risk too we're basically drinking ourselves sick Now last deal you need to wear glow Caribbean leaders can make a real difference now more than ever we need them to step up now more than ever we need better labels so we can make better choices for better health This message was brought to you by the St. Lucia Cancer Society in association with the Healthy Caribbean Coalition Welcome back Primers Hutchinson has the night off The Department of Agriculture joins the rest of the globe in commemorating World Food Safety Day the day commissioned in 2019 by the United Nations seeks to build awareness and education on matters of the production management and handling of all the world's food sources In St. Lucia what this comes down to is proactively providing opportunities to constituents of the agri-food sector to learn and discuss on the myriad of ways to guarantee that the food we consume is safe thereby redoubling efforts to keep food safety on the public agenda By doing so the Department of Agriculture hopes to reduce the number of people who get sick from eating unsafe food Chief Plant Research Officer at the Plant Research and Development Division Hannah Romain says her department continues its mandate of ensuring farmers receive the much needed support to meet international food safety standards We want to take this opportunity to reach out to our agro-processors and let them know that and we want you to know that we now have on board a new component to ensure that the food that you are processing meets all the standards the requirements for the markets that they are destined for So they will now have on board food technologies very soon will be bringing in a food safety specialist and they are there to ensure that they can help you improve your product National Project Coordinator of the Food and Agriculture Organization School Feeding Program, Sherriann Smith has highlighted measures being taken by her organization to enhance food safety in St. Lucia She asserts by assisting farmers with food handling and proper crop management techniques The School Feeding Program will begin to address the knowledge gaps in food safety awareness and education among all involved in feeding our school-aged children nutritious safe meals Last year we conducted an assessment of all the school kitchens and gardens in St. Lucia where food safety is concerned So we looked at the kitchens holistically we looked at storage we looked at the water quality we looked at everything where food safety is concerned Also the FAO we are working very hard with the cooks training them in food safety and quality we are also including parents and students in this program because we know of course our children are very very important where food safety is concerned because you know sometimes they could take that they could disregard the whole food safety issue Smith says the production and consumption of safe food remains a priority for the FAO as they recognize the immediate and long-term benefits for people as well as the economy The same holds true for the leaders of the agriculture ministry This year's world food safety theme is safe food today for a healthy tomorrow From the communications unit of the Ministry of Agriculture I am Anicia Antoine reporting St Lucia will this year grace the stage of the Miss World Pagent The island is represented by Tyler Pheofan Jesse Laos has the details Lucia's contestant for Miss World 2021 has been formally announced Miss Tyler Pheofan emerged the winner in a closed audition among a bevy of St Lucia beauty queen contenders back in May now license holder for the Miss World franchise on island events company of St Lucia is ready to officially reveal their contestant for Miss World 2021 Lorraine Sidani is the chief executive officer We're here to already introduce Tyler to let St Lucia know who's going to be representing us at Miss World and that's happening December 16th Puerto Rico actually Tyler was selected on the 23rd of May we had an audition, we had five beautiful talented young ladies auditioning to represent St Lucia at the Miss World competition come later this year and those young ladies they showcase their talent their skills are being interviewed their communication skills their poise, their charitable work so it was a very very it was an audition of a very high standard and Tyler was able to win and she is now going to be representing us come December it does bring a lot of joy to our hearts to know that I got the opportunity to represent my people and my country on such a large platform, such a large stage to just basically bring back the culture help network our country basically sell our country and come back and just provide as much charitable resources as I possibly can The Afan will spend the next six months in a training and development program involving multiple stakeholder agencies to prepare her for the Miss World stage in December she shared her other intentions for participating in the pageant aside from winning the crown I have a great interest in assisting youth the underprivileged youth and also just assisting them in terms of finding recreational activities for them providing them with educational support and with the opportunity to be an ambassador for Saint Lucia at Miss World, of course when I do win that title there is great opportunity for Saint Lucia for our people to definitely gain from those resources that they're willing to provide to us of course I will not only sit back and allow them to be involved in providing those resources but I will also utilize the different resources that I would be getting from for example our sponsors the persons who are willing to support throughout my journey Events company CEO Miss Sidani says while this year's talent search was inhibited by COVID-19 protocols the organization hopes to roll out this world program in its full intended format next year our vision Jesse is for us to have a Miss Saint Lucia show but to work up from the community level so I mean if I were to map it out in terms of timing we see say November this year we start to work with the various communities and districts for them to have their individual pageants so that they can send a representative to Miss Saint Lucia and we have a proper Miss Saint Lucia queen show as we have done with the kind of Queen show now rebranded to Miss Saint Lucia and then the winner from that show will obviously be our representative for Miss World next year so once things can go back to some degree of normalcy that would be their approach Events company of Saint Lucia Inc. thanks all the participants who took part in the Miss Saint Lucia World 2021 audition process and congratulates the national winner Miss Tyler Theofan. For the Government Information Service I am Jesse Leons reporting. In neighboring Saint Vincent and the Grenadines people are beginning to leave emergency shelters to return to their homes as the La Soufia Volcano quietens Hail to San King English Francis of Caricam Newstime. Now for an update of what's happening in Saint Vincent and the Grenadines State-owned NBC Radio reported that people are leaving public emergency shelters to return to their homes in areas adjacent to La Soufia Volcano The Government of Saint Vincent and the Grenadines gave the all clear for persons to return to some locations Prime Minister Ralph Gonzalez said that the Government would continue to provide humanitarian support as people resettle in their homes While the Government has not given the all clear for persons to resettle in areas of the red zone Prime Minister Gonzalez said that there could be limited activity with stringent regulations centered on safety That brings us to the end of NTN Nightly Join us next time at 7pm with a repeat at 7am You can also catch up with us anytime on the Saint Lucia Government Facebook page or YouTube channel I am Genelle Norvel